In Time of Emergency | Page 7

emergency.
LEARN THE LOCATIONS OF PUBLIC SHELTERS
An attack might come at any hour of the day or night. Therefore you should find out now the locations of those public fallout shelters designated by your local government for your use. If no designations have yet been made, learn the locations of public shelters that are nearest to you when you are at home, work, school, or any other place where you spend considerable time.
This advice applies to all members of the family. Your children especially should be given clear instructions now on where to find a fallout shelter at all times of the day, and told what other actions they should take in case an attack should occur.
A HOME SHELTER MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE
Public fallout shelters usually offer some advantages over home shelters. However, in many places--especially suburban and rural areas--there are few public shelters. If there is none near you, a home fallout shelter may save your life.
The basements of some homes are usable as family fallout shelters as they now stand, without any alterations or changes--especially if the house has two or more stories, and its basement is below ground level.
However, most home basements would need some improvements in order to shield their occupants adequately from the radiation given off by fallout particles. Usually, householders can make these improvements themselves, with moderate effort and at low cost. Millions of homes have been surveyed for the U.S. Office of Civil Defense by the U.S. Census Bureau, and these householders have received information on how much fallout protection their basements would provide, and how to improve this protection.
SHIELDING MATERIAL IS REQUIRED
In setting up any home fallout shelter, the basic aim is to place enough "shielding material" between the people in the shelter and the fallout particles outside.
Shielding material is any substance that would absorb and deflect the invisible rays given off by fallout particles outside the house, and thus reduce the amount of radiation reaching the occupants of the shelter. The thicker or denser the shielding material is, the more it would protect the shelter occupants.
Some radiation protection is provided by the existing, standard walls and ceiling of a basement. But if they are not thick or dense enough, other shielding material will have to be added.
Concrete, bricks, earth and sand are some of the materials that are dense or heavy enough to provide fallout protection. For comparative purposes, 4 inches of concrete would provide the same shielding density as:
--5 to 6 inches of bricks. --6 inches of sand or gravel . .\ May be packed into bags, cartons, boxes, --7 inches or earth. . . . . . ./ or other containers for easier handling. --8 inches of hollow concrete blocks (6 inches if filled with sand). --10 inches of water. --14 inches of books or magazines. --18 inches of wood.
HOW TO PREPARE A HOME SHELTER
If there is no public fallout shelter near your home, or if you would prefer to use a family-type shelter in a time of attack, you should prepare a home fallout shelter. Here is how to do it:
* A PERMANENT BASEMENT SHELTER. If your home basement--or one corner of it--is below ground level, your best and easiest action would be to prepare a permanent-type family shelter there. The required shielding material would cost perhaps $100-$200, and if you have basic carpentry or masonry skills you probably could do the work yourself in a short time.
Here are three methods of providing a permanent family shelter in the "best" corner of your home basement--that is, the corner which is most below ground level. If you decide to set up one of these shelters, first get the free plan for it by writing to Civil Defense, Army Publications Center, 2800 Eastern Blvd. (Middle River), Baltimore, Md. 21220. In ordering a plan, use the full name shown for it.
CEILING MODIFICATION PLAN A
If nearly all your basement is below ground level, you can use this plan to build a fallout shelter area in one corner of it, without changing the appearance of it or interfering with its normal peacetime use.
However, if 12 inches or more of the basement wall is above ground level, this plan should not be used unless you add the "optional walls" shown in the sketch.
Overhead protection is obtained by screwing plywood sheets securely to the joists, and then filling the spaces between the joists with bricks or concrete blocks. An extra beam and a screwjack column may be needed to support the extra weight.
Building this shelter requires some basic woodworking skills and about $150-$200 for materials. It can be set up while the house is being built, or afterward.
ALTERNATE CEILING MODIFICATION PLAN B
This is similar to Plan A, except that new extra joists are fitted into part of the basement ceiling to support the added weight of